National Republican., 1887-08-26
why Virginia Has Been Dwarfed la
the UnIon.


has produced the greatest statesmen In the
world" is now on the point OF "surrender'
ipg the principles which made her great"
"PrIncipes which have made her great" is
decidedly good Principles which have
made her small would have been more
truthful and proper sentiment.
Now, this claim that Virginia has "pro-
duced the greatest statesmen Of the world"
will apply mainly to the men who were born
In the eighteenth century; and many who
have lived, moved, and had being ut the
end OF the past and beginning Of the present
century should not be classed as the great
est statesmen of the world" +" but to the Goa
trary, 1t would have been greatly to the in
teTest OF Virginia had many OF her boosted
| statesmen never been born. "By their fruit
We shall know them" Great statesmen
produce great and prosperous states. Is II
not notorious fact that not single can IL
date for the presidency has been selected
from Virginia during the past seventy years
As che fell back In population, in her dele
cation in Congress, in wealth, and general
prosperity, her influence, political aud So
cial, lost rank as rapidly as was her down
ward tendency.
From the formation of this republic up
| to 1910 Virginia was the Empire State" in
| population, IN congressional representa-
| llOD, BtaUtbnhU1sUlp, anu Ill
1910 New York had become an equal; Penn
| sylvania and Massachusetts were coDsi ler-
| ably below her standard. "Look on this
| picture, then on that" Look at New York
| and Virginia In 1900, then compare these
two states in 1880. In 1900 Virginia's pop.
ulation was SS6,200, New York's only $685.
| ;56, difference Of 299,444 In favor Of Vr.
| ginis. Now look at the figures for 1880
Population in Virginia, l,5l2,S06; In New
| York, 5,0S3,5 difference OF three aud
hall millions In favor Of New York state.
Now let us compare Virginia with OHIO
In 1900 Ohio was territory, with a popu
latiCn Of about 30,00C a difference OF $780,,
600 In favor OF Virginia. Here are the
| figures for 1880: Ohio, 3,13S.000: Virginia.
l,512 500, dlfTererce Of /, ,GS5 200 in favor
| Of Ohio, In 1910, Virginia could boast Of
being the first in the list OF states In popu
| iatiOu and representatives In Congress, Ia
| 1850, she had dropped down to the tenth,
and to-day, the Twelfth or thirteenth. Not
withstandipg these startling and truthful
| figures, the Democratic press Is greatly
alarmed that Virginia twill surrender the
| principle that has made her so great"
Could any change he more detrimental to
the interest OF the old commonwealth than
the Bourbon dynasty that has governed
With brief exceptions Its affairs for the past
seventy years.
What Is the cause OF virginlas constant
/ anu iupiu 10 IL loi buO WdHb VI u
genial and healthy climate, a productive
soil, obstruction to commerce, lack Of
minerals and timber? Let Gov. Henry A.
Wise answer these questions. From his
speech delivered at Liberty Hall, Alexandra,
February, 1856, he thus described the almost
unlimited re- sources Of Virginia.
was saying when interrupted that the
| state OF Virginia has every element OF com.
| merce. agriculture, mining. and manuflctur.
ing. On Chesapeake bay; from the mouth OF
the Rappahannock, to the eapes, we have
roadsteads and harbors sufficient to float the
navies OF the world. You have the Potomac
the Rappahannock, the James, and Elizabeth
rivers, all meeting in the most beautiful sheet
of water of all the seas OF the EARTH You have
the bowels of your western mountains rich in
iron, in copper. In coal, In salt, in gypsum,
and the very earth Is rich 10 oil, which makes
| Allegheny, the beautiful Blue Ridge that
stands there-paced by the Almighty-not to
obstrnct the way Of the people to the market,
| but placed there in the very bounty of Provi.
dence to milk the clouds, and to make sweet
| springs, which are the source of your rivers!
Great applause. At the head of every
stream is the waterfall murmuring the very
music mus Sl power aRplause And yet your
sailed away from you. You have not as yet
dug more than coal enough to warm yourselves
at your own hearths. You have set no tilt
hammer of Vulcan 70 strike blows worthy OF
gods in the iron foundries; you have not yet
| spun more than coarse cotton enough in tn !,
| way OF manufacture to clothe yourselves; yon
have had no commerce, no mining. no manu-
iaclures; you have relied alone on the single
power Of agriculture and such agriculture.
| Great laughter.l Instead of having to feed
cattle on thousand hills you have had t1
chase the stump.tail,d steer through the hedge
patches to procure tough beetseak IGrea,
With all this plentitude of power virginia
has dwarfed in the Onion But. by the gods
| say, she has the power now. the energy, the
| resources (may say the men p to he put upon
,he line OF progress 10 eminence of prosperity
topasS New y YORK y yet fas'er IN thS % Union than han
have been called the "Old Dominion" let IL.
as Nirginians, l implore you, thi. night re
solve that a new era dawn, and that hence
forth she shall be called the New Dominion
| Cheers The present condition OF things has
existed too long in Virginia. The Landlord
has skinned the tenant, and the tenant ha
skinned the land, until all have grown poo
| together.
This famous speech OF Gov. Wise ex
plains how Virginia under seventy years
OF Democratic Bourbon management hi,
been dwarfed In the Upion," that instea
of retaining her former honorable position
as first in the catalogue of states, ha
dropped down to the humble position OF
, thirteenth. The speech Of Gov. Wise, de
livered In 1856, is just as applicable to tn,
affairs Of Virginia to-day as 1t was the nigh
it was delivered. The party that ruled
10 1856 rules Virginia now; tue same party
have 'set no tilt hammer Of Vulcan to
| VI ROuS III Tue lTOu
, foundries; are opposed to every develop
ment except agriculture-and such agri
culture.n
The cause Of Virginas past and present
poverty was and is the opposition OF tn
dominant party to the development OF he
minerals and manufacturing, and to effec
their purpose have constantly opposed al
tariffs proposed by Congress to protec
American industry, while New York, Penn
sylvania, and Ohio have always supportet
judicious tariff for that purpose Here is
statement OF the votes In the United State
House OF Representatives on the variou
tariffs: lns 1916 the Virginia delegatio
. voted, yeas z, nays 13; 1924, yeas !, nays 81
1S2S, yeas 3, nays Is; lS42, yeas 3, nays II
1916, (for free trade) yeas ID, nays /
I During these years, to increase or decreas
the tariff duties, New York, Pennsylvania
9 and Ohio voted directly in opposition to tn
members from Virginia. The people of tn
: last three states favored tariff that wOu
D protect their interests, and increased thei
/. manufacturing facilities as fast as fund
1 and the demand would warrant the in
r crease. A state possessing all the resource
, described by Gov. Wise has no excuse TO
: being bankrupt.
4. One Of the chief grievances Of the colo
e nies was the efforts Of the British manufac
turers to prevent the erection Of factorie
aud work shops on the ground that sal
works would be detrimental to the moJhe
! country, and the house OF commons vote,
!, that erection OF manufactures In the Amar
can colonies tended to lessen their depen
deIce upon Great Britain. In 1861 tn
o Hon. Joshua Gee advocated the theor
, "tbat the colonies should not be permitte
to manufacture a hobnail." Again, pr
!. lament declared "that no wool yarn @
/ wooden manufactures on their America
/ plantations should be shipped there, or eve
. | laden In order to be transported frOn
/ thence to any place whatever" III
F.. colonies promptly rebelled against thes
; restrictions, and Virginia took the lea
| In The rnsnrt 10 Nnf nLr